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Keira Lamm, 3, makes faces at the mirror while doing exercises on the bar at PACE Center in Parker on November 6, 2013. Douglas County received over $500,000 in Scientific and Cultural Facilities District monies in 2013.
Denver Post file
Keira Lamm, 3, makes faces at the mirror while doing exercises on the bar at PACE Center in Parker on November 6, 2013. Douglas County received over $500,000 in Scientific and Cultural Facilities District monies in 2013.
Jennifer Brown of The Denver Post.
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A 0.1 percent sales tax for arts and culture in Denver’s seven-county metro area passed overwhelmingly, as supporters called it a “bright ray of sunshine voters could agree on,” according to unofficial results.

With 64 percent of votes counted, the ballot measure was winning 665,311 votes, or 62.6 percent, to 396,967 votes, or 37.3 percent.

The tax funds the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, which has been in existence for 28 years. Without another thumbs up from voters, it would have expired next summer. The measure — called 4B — extends the tax until 2030.

“Each time voters have had the chance to register their opinion on the district, we have received a resounding vote of confidence,” said Dan Hopkins, chair of the district’s board of directors.

Voters created the district in 1988 and voted to renew it in 1994 and 2004.

“This vote once again affirms the popularity of, and strong voter support for, arts and culture,” said Jim Harrington, chair of the Citizens for Arts to Zoo, the campaign formed to support the tax renewal.

The cultural district collects one penny out of every $10. It distributed $53.2 million to arts, cultural and scientific groups last year, a 14.6 percent increase from 2013. The money goes toward The Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver Art Museum and Denver Botanic Gardens, as well as about 250 smaller arts organizations throughout Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, Denver and Jefferson counties.

The funds go toward free days at museums, free parking, local arts festivals, youth orchestras, neighborhood dance studios, nature programs and community theaters.

The tax would generate an estimated $64.6 million in 2018.

Opponents of 4B included the Independence Institute, which said the tax could encourage patrons to stop investing in arts because the government is already doing it for them.

Larimer County voters were deciding whether to create a similar tax for arts, culture and science. Results were not yet available on the penny-per-$10 sales tax, which would last for 10 years.